New Communications Technology Recap

I found this course to be very informative. Previously I had taken Social Media Optimization, and that class really didn't do anything except introduce us to new social media sites. Which was alright but with New Comm Tech I feel that we learned more about how people are affected by these sites. Dr. Wachanga always found an interesting way to look at something and analyze things. I felt that his real life examples and stories that he told us made learning about these things more interesting as well. This course also introduced me to a new site, Ushahidi. I found that to be one of the more interesting topics we talked about.It's just unreal to me that that many people can come together and connect in such a short period of time and during a crises. The ways they were able to use that to help others during these times were very impressive. Overall I come away with a better understanding of the ways different social networks can be used and how they are most affected.

Journoterrorists and Ethics

The article on journoterrorists which consisted of a number of different steps and pieces of advice was informing but in my opinion not that interesting. I'm not specifically interested in journalism but I can see and understand how a lot of the same issues and problems can be applied in many other areas.

The article on blogging seemed a bit out dated and had a lot of information I think a lot of us area probably already aware of.

Ushahidi

Ushahidi

            Volunteers came together to revolutionize humanitarian response and changed the way information can be gather and shared during a time of crisis or to document human rights violations. Similar to Wikipedia and its use of crowd sourcing users generate the information and can edit and change the information as they see fit.

 Ushahidi, which mean witness in Swahili, began in 2007 during the post election violence in Kenya. Main stream media was not reporting on human rights abuses and the people and outlets who were supposed to be sharing information were not. It began as a number people could text for free to report violations of human rights that they are seeing. Basically allowing users to tell the story of what is happening first hand. Ushahidi reconstructs an unfolding story by using information from users who text in, news stories, pictures and so on.

Smart phones and aps are making a system like this easier. People can take pictures right on their phone and upload them within seconds to Ushahidi. What I found interesting is that Ushahidi can basically be transformed to map whatever issue they are concerned with or for a purpose they are interested in.

Ushahidi played a large role in saving lives after the earthquake in Haiti. Originally the members at Ushahidi took information that people in Haiti and around the area had been posting on their Twitter and Facebook accounts to begin mapping. With an explosion of information they couldn’t keep up with all the mapping so they trained hundreds of people all over the place to help in the efforts. They could live skype with people on the scene to gain information, they also used Flickr and YouTube to map information as quickly as possible.

Ushahidi gained attention in the media and was even mentioned by Hilary Clinton. This gave them a good deal of publicity and information continued to poor in and the map continued to fill up with about 2000 different things mapped after only 3 weeks. The Marines and Coast Guard utilized Ushahidi and used it to decide where to deploy units. With 30% of individuals in Haiti having cell phone accessibility it was easy to communicate through text messaging. People could also receive a text back from Ushahidi, something that before was never capable from a crisis management organization.

Ushahidi

·         Based upon crowd sourcing and receiving information.

·         Smart phones have Aps that can be downloaded for Ushahidi

·         Ushahidi platform can be changed to map and monitor any issue or crisis.

·         Relies on volunteers and the desire to help others.

·         FEMA told them they were doing a great job and that they were saving lives.

·         Used by the Marines and Coast Guard.

·         People who wanted to help and do more than donate were finally able to do so.

·         Mapped several thousand messages and mapped them by most urgent, and help was sent where it was most desperately needed.

·         For the first time there was two way communication with those who need help and those who are providing it.

·         Can set it up to receive information from a selected, designated area when something happens there simply by getting a text from Ushahidi.

·         Improves real time and real space situational awareness.

Article Review

Darin Heinrich

New Communication Technology

Social Media Used During Crisis

            Social media is everywhere, and is beginning to be used for a number of things. A popular trend we have seen lately is the use of social media and cell phones to report news stories and important events that are taking place around us. The article that I read on Mashable was called 5 Social Media Lessons From the Haiti Earthquake Relief Effort. The article talked about how social media was used to not only generate stories about the earthquake but also to do a great amount of fundraising as well. Through its texting campaign the Red Cross was able to raise $20 million simply by people texting a number to give a donation that would be taken from their cell phone bill. The article talked about how social media was used during the time of crisis in relations to the earthquake but what I found interesting was the actual 5 lessons that it pointed out and how we can learn and improve from what we already know. 

1.      Haiti represents the maturation of mobile giving.

            The Red Cross was about to generate nearly $20 billion in donations, these donations came from text messages sent that would charge the sender $10. This was a very impressive number which far topped any other donation service set up and since the Haiti earthquake has only raised $4 million. Knowing and understanding how to utilize texting and the use of cell phones to generate revenue or funding will remain important. 

2.      Online participants did more than just give money.

           Those who were helping were able to share their experience firsthand by tweeting, updating statuses and uploading pictures of what they were doing. This made the issue seem more real to others who were not actually in Haiti and gave them a better sense of how bad things really were which would eventually lead to more wanting to be involved.

3.      Integration of social with traditional media.

           There were a number of examples of how social media began to interact with traditional media. Traditional journalists began using social networking platforms to reach a number of other readers and individuals who may not have seen their stories otherwise. CNN and the NFL did a lot of broadcasting about how their audience could get involved and help out on the various social networks.

4.      The story was emotional but not fully told.

           We were made aware of the issues and saw the photos of destruction and individuals suffering but never really understood the real issue of Haiti’s poverty and terrible living conditions. In 1989 San Francisco had a earthquake that was as bad as the one in Haiti but only 63 people died as opposed to the approximately 500,000 people who were killed in Haiti. This was mainly due to their unstable housing and relief efforts once the earthquake actually hit. 

5.      Immediacy and impact are not the same.

            Although we did a lot initially to help Haiti, are we still doing enough? Haiti is still rebuilding and still needs a lot of money and help. However the fear is that with social media controlling so much of the way we do things and news stories we see we become involved with the next big issue and generally forget about those who still need help. 

http://mashable.com/2010/01/20/social-media-lessons-haiti/

Covering Disaster

Covering Disaster

            Covering Disaster is an article that discusses the way information is gathered, shared and distributed during a time of crisis, whether it is a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Both natural disasters and terrorist attacks have been on the rise in the past few decades and more is finally being done to help ensure the safety and prevention of injury of those who happen to be living in the specific area that is being affected. With the growing popularity of cell phones in all areas of the world this effort is becoming easier. Cell phones are more popular than ever according to the article, by the end of 2008 4 billion people in the world had cell phone subscriptions, basically 61 in every 100 people. Many of those cell phones have access to the internet which can access social media sites like Facebook and Twitter which are now becoming popular ways to get out important information during a time of crisis.

            With our constant advances in technology we experience a number of opportunities and also challenges when it comes to sharing information through social networks and while using our phones. Information flow must be two-way to be effective, information will not be used unless it is trusted, and information will be helpful only if it is accurate. Keeping those three things in mind organizations have formed to help ensure the safety of locals during a time of crisis. However, it isn’t just the simple fact of informing people that something bad is about to happen. What seems to lack the most is the knowledge of people as to what they should do if something is about to happen, and what they should do after. The article talked about being able to provide individuals with information before and after crisis but often times it wasn’t the information that people were looking to hear. People want to know where they can go for housing or supplies if they have lost everything and until lately that was never considered.

            Using social media networks allows others to reach a large population and alert them about a threatening issue or storm that is forming. Not only have individuals began to use social media and cell phones just to warn people about something but also to help them after. It is very common now that through social networks and by texting, people can contribute to relief efforts even if what has happened is half way around the globe. Many have utilized text messages to donate to relief efforts or social networks to form groups that will mobilize or do other things to help provide supplies or support for those in a time of need.

            I think the article is best summed up when the author says on page 14, “The impact of disasters and conflicts on lives and livelihoods can be greatly reduced by giving affected communities advance warning” (Coyle, Meier, 2009). Although there is still a long way to go in early warning precautions and technology it is reassuring to see that organizations and governments are taking steps in the right direction. Being prepared before hand and having a plan is half the battle, following that is the ability to communicate and execute that plan with the public within moments with a system that is reliable and can reach as many individuals as possible.

Beginning to Follow

Recently I started following two new blogs. JoshisElectric is Josh Fishburn's blog. He is actually a professor at Whitewater and his blog consists mainly of posts and articles about new technology, social media and some gaming. I had Josh as a teacher last semester and always found his material very interesting so I thought it would be beneficial to follow his blog as well.

The other blog I started to follow  is called soshable.com and is a blog that writes original stories, reposts and analyzes stories about anything that has to do with social media. It also talks about new trends or emergences of new social media platforms. There are many interesting articles on the blog, many of which seem to relate to topics we had been discussing in class.

Along with beginning to follow these two new blogs I also set up an account on sitemeter to measure the traffic on my blog. Also I will begin to promote my blog through my twitter account.

Follow me on twitter @Darin_Heinrich

Facebook and Twitter Articles

Don't Fear Twitter:

This was an interesting article that talked about how Twitter can be used to help improve journalism. People seemed to be afraid that Twitter would take over journalism and general news reporting but the fact remains 140 characters is not enough to thoroughly report. John Dickerson, the author of the article, brought up an interesting argument. Twitter actually broadens the amount of information he views or reads more about because of what the people he is following on Twitter are tweeting. I would agree with him on that. I have just recently gotten more involved in the "Twitter game" and I think I do find out more information about different things because they're being brought to my attention. I like that Twitter only allows 140 characters, it keeps tweeters from babbling and they get right to the point.



Engaging Youth in Social Media: Is Facebook the New Media Frontier?

This article discusses a research project that was conducted to see what it takes to get teens and tweens to actively engage in discussion about current events and information. In the past decade or so less teens discuss current events with one another. Researchers decided to use Facebook as a platform and create applications where users could go to share, read, and comment on articles and really create a niche community. Creating these niche communities allowed users to connect with other individuals they may not know who are passionate about the same issues they are. Through these networks people can come together and make a difference. I think using social media is a great way to find people and interact with them about the same things you are interested in and I believe that the number of different niche communities will continue to grow.